CLEMSON — Taking a page from the same book that Alabama’s football team used on Clemson back in late August, the Clemson basketball team used a tough, physical style of play Tuesday night to wear down Alabama’s basketball team in much the same way.

The 12th-ranked Tigers held Alabama to one field goal during a span of 8:38 in the second half and forced four turnovers as they turned a one-point deficit into a 66-59 victory at Littlejohn Coliseum.

“That is so much a part of our system and scheme that we want to wear on people,” Clemson coach Oliver Purnell said. “As time went on you saw their legs start going a little bit and that made it tougher and tougher for them to make shots.”

The Crimson Tide (10-4) went 7:47 without a point after taking a 42-41 lead on a Yamene Coleman dunk with 14:14 to play. But Clemson’s constantly harassing defense took its toll as Alabama missed its next 11 shots.

“That was big for us,” Clemson guard K.C. Rivers said, who scored 12 points and led the team with nine rebounds. “Coach kept talking to us and said that we were wearing them down and to continue to play hard.”

The Tigers (15-0) played hard enough to build a 15-point advantage. They used Alabama’s cold hand to spark a 17-1 run during that one stretch to take a 58-43 lead.

“They are a team that has that one stretch, and we knew they were going to do it at some point, and we gave them one in the second half,” Alabama head coach Mark Gottfried said.

Before Clemson’s decisive run, the outcome was very much in doubt as Alabama got back-to-back jump shots from Senario Hillman, including one 3-pointer to take a 34-33 lead with 18:49 to go. The two teams then swapped the lead back and forth, before Clemson used the game’s lone big run to take control.

“We just continued to run our stuff and continued to play hard on defense, and it worked for us in the end,” Rivers said.

Despite what Purnell said was a dominating victory, Clemson still had its lapses. The Tigers only shot 39 percent from the field and were out-rebounded 46-35 on the boards. They also committed 14 turnovers and converted just 13-of-22 free throws.

Clemson’s inability to convert on the front end of one-and-ones down the stretch allowed the Crimson Tide to keep what little hopes they had alive.

“That was a good win for us,” Purnell said. “There were a number of things that we did not do well and to win against a club that was playing well with good guards and good athletes was big… there were a number of things you have to do well to win, yet we won in a convincing way.”

Things did not look too convincing early when Alabama jumped out to a 12-5 lead in the first three minutes.

Clemson opened the game hitting just four of its first 14 shots and finished just 10-of-29 for the half. But forward Trevor Booker kept the Tigers in the game by scoring 14 of his game-high 19 points in the first half, including two 3-pointers.

“I was feeling it,” he said. “When I’m feeling it I get in that mode that I want the ball.”

With Clemson trailing 18-14 with about 11 minutes to play in the opening half, Booker banked his second three in and then followed that with back-to-back fade-aways that put the Tigers ahead, 22-20, with 8:16 to go. It was Clemson’s first lead of the night.

“I just went to work, and my teammates kept feeding me the ball,” Booker said. “I did my best to get the ball in the basket.”

The Tigers led by as many as six points before the break and took a 33-29 lead into the locker room.

Alabama’s Ronald Steele scored all 10 of his points in the opening half, including eight in the first three minutes and eight seconds. Clemson used trapping ball screens to shut out Steele, who was averaging 13.7 points a game, in the second half.

“He got off to a hot start with a couple of threes and a couple of floaters in the lane, so pretty much we guarded him as a team in the second half,” Clemson guard Demontez Stitt said. “He was my main responsibility to guard, so from the beginning of the second half I tried to stay in him and not let him get free for any shots or anything.”

Clemson will stay at home as they get back into ACC play this Saturday against N.C. State at noon.

Injures. Clemson forward David Potter took an elbow to the eye early in the first half and suffered a mild concussion.

Following the game, Potter said he could not remember the hit. He was also suffering from a migraine and was feeling nauseous.

His status for the N.C. State game will be reevaluated today.